Ha! Ha! Two posts in One Month

Hope you were sitting down when you checked our blog again. :) I must finally be equalizing as far as things I need to do. Maybe I'll get my license plates and drivers license changed before April is over (since I obviously missed doing it by the end of March).

I have actually had a few rather calm days when I felt as though I really should have been running around more. Today I ran around plenty, but I still had time to just hang with my little Nickles (like the coin - one of my favorite nicknames for him at the moment) and even let him take a little nap in the car.

We accomplished a couple of things that have been on my list for a while. We finally got our DVD Recorder off to Panasonic for service. I hope it is fixable...I suppose since it is under warranty it isn't really an issue, but whatever. We also finally made it to Michaels to have Mark's diploma, board test certificates and license framed. How cool, huh? I am quite pleased with the selection I made. He is going to have a very chic and yet understated looking brag wall. I was fortunate in that Michaels is having a 50% off sale right now so I save some big bucks on the framing. It was still expensive though...partially because I opted for a double matte look rather than the single matte look I chose when framing my own certificates...

We had some excitement at the end of the day, too. I helped our office manager break into her car. She'd left her keys in it. Ugh. We all know how annoying that is. We were able to, with the help of a wire hanger I brought back from home, pop her back window open. We had the darndest time trying to get the actual lock to slide over though...it's too bad we don't have video! Mark actually came back just at the right moment and I used his cane to trip it. Hopefully it will help with the whole bonding experience at the office. :)

And then we have a little story about the Nicholas. We have had some really easy getting to bed times these past few nights, but Saturday night was the most amazing. I believe the ease was due to Nicholas being adjusted by a doctor teaching a seminar Mark went to this weekend about correcting the spine. It is some crazy stuff, but it seems to be something I'll benefit greatly from...and Nicholas seems to have already enjoyed some spoils.

So on Saturday this guy adjusted Nicholas. I was about ready to crawl across the table and throttle the guy after the first adjustment. I have never seen anyone do that to a baby (I'm not going to elaborate - you don't want to know). It definitely was not one of those "barely any pressure things). But, that night, I kid you not...I took him out of his car seat sleeping. He didn't even stir (well, he did but for like two seconds and then was back to sleep with no input from me as far as patting shhhing and the like). I took him to our bedroom, lay him on the bed, took off his clothes and dressed him in his jammies and his snuggly sleep sack and he was sleeping through the whole thing. Just to push my luck, I breastfed him and then put him in his crib to go to sleep. He slept...no whining. no startling. nothing!

This is highly irregular, in fact, it's never happened before. EVER. Tonight, I just put him down before coming here to write and I laid him down and again...not a bit of stirring. Oh, and I didnt mention that on Sunday the kid had 6 (!!) bowel movements (and we're talking significant size - even had to change his clothes once) from the time he got up to the time we fed him dinner. Whoa....especially since some of them were not even close to a solid feeding. It was too weird, but ever since his potty has been "fresh" looking rather than, well, not. Very odd and very cool.

As for me, the guy adjusted me, too. Except for the fact that he and I both kind of abdicated responsibility on the last Saturday night adjustment as far as what side I should be adjusted on which lead to my being in a pretty bad state by Sunday morning (and pretty doubtful that the money I was spending sending Mark to the seminar was remotely worth it!). We walked into that classroom very unhappy campers. By the end of the day, though, I was feeling more positive about it...especially since the doctor had the decency to tell me that he had adjusted me on the wrong side and that's why I was feeling so utterly awful. Shortly after he adjusted me again I felt much better. He adjusted me once more that day and then Mark adjusted me again. The doctor estimates that by November of next year, I should be pretty much back to "normal" with my spine. I am hopeful that he won't let me down as many others have in the past. I would love to feel good again and not notice my body...

Well, I will spare you a further novella... I hope everyone is well and will chat at you again soon (it's a little more believeable now when I say this, isn't it?)

10 Months...

Our dear little sprout is 10 months old today and to celebrate, he got up on all fours and crawled! How exciting, huh?

I figured we'd start with that instead of the usual "blah, blah, blah sorry I've not posted" mumbo jumbo you've come to expect with my almost monthly posts. It is my intention (as it always is) to get back into the habit of providing regular updates. Maybe that will happen soon...maybe not. Only the business gods know for sure.

I have been swamped with getting things going with the business. Fun times since I am doing it primarily after normal operating hours and on weekends with Nicholas in tow. Frequently Mark will watch him which is helpful. This week was especially productive since Mark's parents were here to visit for Nicholas' baptism this past weekend and kept watch over him.

The baptism, speaking of which, was so nice. Nicholas was looking quite dapper in his little white tuxedo (there will eventually be pictures to see on his website which I also fully intend to get back up to date - hee hee!). It was a lovely ceremony on Easter Vigil (Saturday night before Easter) at the same church where we were married and where we seem to fit in nicely again despite their split from the Episcopal Church. It's pretty nice to be back in a very conservative church again, I have to admit.

The Easter Vigil ceremony is quite a sight and so it was the perfect time for the baptism. Nicholas once again stole the show (there were two other candidates who hadn't a chance) by getting fussy right as his turn "on stage" came. He started being quite figety, whiny, etc. So, the priest suggested Mark hand him over. As he read the service, Nicholas intently looked at him and thought about how he would steal his glasses. When he wasn't able to find a way, he went for the program. We have video of most of the service (we'd have it all but I had my brother stop recording in the middle to ensure we wouldn't have a problem with battery power when the actual baptism time came!), I can't wait to see it.

Because the ceremony was in the evening, we decided to have the party to celebrate it at lunch that day. We took all the VIPs to Phantom Canyon Brewery for some tasty vittles. For favors, I'd bought some candies to put in some cutie pie bunny easter baskets I found at Williams Sonoma. I had a big basket with Nicholas' name monogrammed on it for him. These were a big hit even if they were quite obnoxious and kept falling over when we tried to set the table up!

Nicholas has 7 official and one honorary (because he couldn't come to the ceremony) godparents. Our friends Kristie and Mark (Kristie sang at our wedding if you were there), Jennifer and Brent, Lyndsay and Buck and Noheilani (who s a rather recent acquaintance but who ADORES her little "Makana" and was a perfect addition to the line up were able to make the ceremony. Keola, unfortunately didn't make it, but is quite thrilled to be "the Godfather." We have quite a line up godparents-wise for Nicholas and we know they will be great role models.

On Easter Sunday we attended church with Kristie, Mark and their daughter Hannah, then we all joined Mark's parents for brunch at MacKensie's Chop House downtown. It was pretty tasty with all sorts of delectables including shrimp, crab legs, prime rib, ham and lots of other goodies.

Business-wise we are doing pretty well. Mark held down the fort without the retiring doctor for an entire week. About a 1/3 of the normal volume of patients showed up, but we were pleased with that as we know people get very attached to their doctors! Since that week, he's been the only doctor in the office on Wednesday and seems to be doing pretty well at getting a few people in to see him. :) He's slowly building a new patient base and should see an explosion here soon since he's joined a business networking group, the chamber and has been courting several area businesses.

We finally also have a somewhat liveable upstairs. We just need mt parents to come get their couch. :)

Other than that, we have been keeping up with our cutie pie Nick. We've begun introducing him to finger foods and he's loving them. So far we've made a hit with oat cereal (not cheerios, but similar), raisins (today), peas and pear chunks. He's a good little eater and seems to chew well before swallowing!

Other tricks he's got up his sleeves now including clapping and sometimes making the sign for Milk. Sometimes, I think he is waving though! He's grown enought that he's starting to transition into 9/12 month clothing and he has a lot of it. I went a bit nuts at a Macy's sale on MLK, Jr. day and he's pretty much not hurting for clothes for a while!

Other than that, I am toying with the idea of getting into children's photography. I say toying because I'm not quite ready to commit to taking photos of anyone but Nicholas. Part of what's bring the idea to the forefront is my dear MIL who thinks I'd be awesome at it and part of it comes from the fact that I am not having much luck finding a photographer here who does what I want for the price I want. I'm finding it almost amazing that if I want something close to what the photographer I used in the Bay Area offers, I have to pay more than double her cost! I guess it must be a supply and demand thing since the supply of photographers out there is much higher than that here. Who knows, though. One thing is handy - if I decided to do it, I have a pretty nice logo and website graphics designed that could probably be modified ever so slightly to make it work. Of course, the trademark wouldn't be of much use...

And then, I toy every so often with the idea of wedding or event planning here. I've come across so many photographers that are lamenting the lack of good wedding planners they can refer to brides who book with them. I even met one couple who was planning to introduce discounts for brides who had one. I probably would like it out here better, I'm guessing, buuut, I'm not even going to THINK about doing anything of that sort (or if I did, of advertising or whathave you) until Mark's business is up and running fabulously...if for no other reason than I promised the SBA when we applied for our loan. :)

I guess that will do for today. Perhaps I will make it back here before another month has passed. Until then, have a great time!